Portal:Architecture/Selected article/2007-28
Historic preservation is the act of maintaining and repairing existing historic materials and the retention of a property's form as it has evolved over time. When considering the United States Department of Interior's interpretation: "Preservation calls for the existing form, materials, features, and detailing of a property to be retained and preserved. This may include preliminary measures to protect and stabilize it prior to undertaking other work--or protection and stabilization may be an end in itself, for example, in an archeological project". Historic Preservation is a vital tool in the effort to save historic buildings and locales. It helps maintain a communities historical roots and provides various educational opportunities.
The UK's Ancient Monuments Act of 1913 officially preserved certain decayed and obsolete structures of intrinsic historical and associative interest. The UK's National Trust began with the preservation of historic houses and has steadily increased its scope. The Parliament subsequently passed the Town and Planning Act (1944) and Town and Country Planning Act 1990.
In The United States one of the first major Historic Preservation undertakings was that of George Washington's Mount Vernon in 1858. Founded in 1889, the Richmond, Virginia-based Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities was the United States' first statewide historic preservation group. The U.S. National Trust for Historic Preservation, another privately funded, non-profit organization, began in 1949 to preserve a handful of privileged structures. (more…)